Classic Rhythmic Shaker – with a TWIST!

We made these rhythmic shakers a few weeks ago at a playgroup.  The boys have been loving them ever since.  I was thinking of which post I would like to write for you, but I couldn’t concentrate due to the spinning and shaking of our shakers.  THEN, it hit me (literally – they are kind of nunchuck like) – why not write about this classic activity?

I have started to feel like I need to really get out of the box in this space.  Get super creative and original.  I do love that creative challenge, and really enjoy exploring and creating in unique ways with my little guys, but I also love the classics.

The funny thing is, it is often the classics that I forget about.  We made the shakers and they have been such a hit (literally a few (more than a few) times) I thought, just perhaps, you had maybe forgotten about this classic too?

For this craft we used rice in cups.  Since we were at a playgroup our rice looks lovely and colourful.  It was coloured with food colouring and a splash of rubbing alcohol.  It is very pretty, but plain rice, or pasta, or buttons, or anything that makes noise works just as well of course.

My little ones spent a bunch of time filling their cups with rice.  Lots of pouring and dumping and messes happened prior to them being satisfied with their filled cups.

Next, we used packing tape and attached the two cups together.  REALLY well.

This is a fun classic craft all by itself.  And not nunchuck like at all.

But we decided to add some ribbons to float and sway as we danced along (truthfully I hadn’t at all considered the whipping consequence of attaching long ribbons – rookie mistake).  We knotted some pretty colourful ribbons around shower curtain rings.

The shower curtain rings fit perfectly over the base of the plastic cups, so we secured them with more packing tape.

Now when the cups are shaken to the beat of the music, the ribbons also sway to the music.  A lovely way to see and hear the beat.  And sometimes an unsuspecting Mama gets the beat right in the leg.  All is fine until a little hand grabs the ribbon instead of the cup…

Simple and fun – definitely a worthwhile childhood experience, and so worthy of a spot on this website.

And so is this picture of our chickens eating a pumpkin:

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